By Segun Otokiti, Abuja
WorldStage Newsonline– There was a brief drama at the House of Representatives emergency session on Wednesday when opposition federal lawmakers of the lower chamber staged a walkout to protest passage of a bill to amend Section 38 of the CBN Act that raises the Way and Means borrowing threshold from 5-10 per cent.
With passage of the bill, the House of Representatives increased the limit within which the federal government can borrow from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The House removed the five per cent in the principal Act and replaced it with 10 per cent.
“Notwithstanding the provisions of section 34 (d) of this Act, the bank may grant temporary advances to the Federal Government in respect of temporary deficiencies in budget revenue at such a rate of interest as the bank may determine. The total amount of such advances outstanding shall not at any time exceed ten per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the Federal Government,” the proposed Section 38 reads.”
The amendment followed the consideration of a report submitted by the House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, to the Committee of the Whole, chaired by Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu.
There have been allegations in the last couple of years that ‘ways and means’ was grossly abused by the erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Buhari had attempted to securitize over N23 trillion borrowed from the CBN before he left office which both chambers of the National Assembly are currently investigating its utilization.
Meanwhile, former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele is facing prosecution over the ways and means and other charges.
The original bill proposed by Ihonvbere set the threshold at 15 per cent. However, some lawmakers opposed the proposal.
The Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, proposed that the threshold should be reduced to two per cent instead of increasing it.
However, former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase moved an amendment for the threshold to be reduced.
When the amendment was put to a voice by Kalu, some opposition lawmakers tried to raise points of order but were shut down.
The deputy speaker, however, ruled in favour of those who supported the amendment, forcing some of the opposition to stage a walkout in protest.
